1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer program product, system, and method for using send buffers and receive buffers for sending messages among nodes in a network
2. Description of the Related Art
Nodes in a network comprised of numerous processors may send messages to each other. Each of the nodes maintains a shared memory in which messages are added by one of the many processors before being sent. A node may have a separate mail buffer for each remote node. When a processor in the node is ready to send a message, it obtains a lock to obtain a buffer entry in a mail buffer at the remote node to which the message will be sent. After obtaining the buffer entry in which the message will be written at the remote node, the processor releases a lock then calls a separate process to send the message. The called sending process obtains a lock on the mail buffer in the sending node, and copies the message from the mail buffer into a separate sending buffer, and then releases the lock. The sending process then sends the message from the sending buffer to the remote node to store at the buffer entry the processor previously obtained for the message at the remote node.
There is a need in the art for improved techniques for processors in nodes to send messages to each other.